Showy Crown Lime

Old English scēawian, to look at — adjectival suffix -y. As a color modifier, showy implies a saturated-and-attention-grabbing quality, the bright color of Las-Vegas-and-Broadway neon-and-marquee theatrical-display lighting. Sits at the bright-and-flamboyant end of the grid, parallel to flamboyant and splashy in usage.

Latin corōna, garland / crown. As a color modifier, crown implies a royal-headpiece-and-coronation quality, the visual register of British-Imperial-State-Crown-and-French-Crown-Jewel hand-set jeweled-and-velvet-and-gilt royal-and-Imperial-coronation surfaces under Imperial-State-Crown-and-French-Crown-Jewel royal-and-Imperial coronation-day light. Sits at the modifier-and-cultural end of the grid, parallel to throne and coronet in usage.

Citrus aurantiifolia and its key-lime cousin — small, intensely sour green citrus carried by Arab traders from Southeast Asia to the Mediterranean by the eleventh century, then to the Caribbean with Columbus. The color refers to the skin of a fully ripe Persian lime: a saturated, slightly yellow-shifted green with the matte finish of citrus rind. Cooler than chartreuse, sharper than sage, with the same chlorophyll the fruit loses if left to ripen to yellow.